Alienware and Riot Games Announce 'League of Legends' Partnership

January 9, 2019

By Christian Smith

The Consumer Electronics Show isn't just a massive display case for the latest in consumer tech ー it's also the site of new partnerships.

This year, CES marked, among other milestones in tech, a new partnership between gaming hardware maker Alienware and "League of Legends" developer Riot Games, a union that was a year in the making, according to the general manager at Dell's gaming arm, Alienware.

"It actually started here a year ago," Frank Azor told Cheddar at the Las Vegas conference on Wednesday. "That's where we first met."

The Dell-owned gaming company will become the esports league's official competition PC and display partner.

Alienware will also provide full hardware support for "League of Legends"' two premier leagues ー the LCS and the LEC ー for their spring and summer seasons.

Gaming has become big business for Dell and Alienware, with annual revenue topping $3 billion.

Alienware also launched a new gaming laptop at CES ー the Area-51m ー which Azor said packs serious punch for a notebook.

"It's basically a desktop computer like our Alienware Aurora, but in a notebook form," Azor said. "We threw everything in the kitchen sink at this thing."

The Area-51m allows users to upgrade the 17-inch laptop's hard drive and graphics package, so they can keep up with the latest advancements in video game technology.